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mgfuchs99
Reviews
The Out-Laws (2023)
Embarrassing, Poor writing. Poor acting.
I thought my dislike for Adam Sandler was satisfied by avoiding anything new he acts in. Apparently my avoidance needs to extend to things he produces.
I thought the cast indicated this would be a promising comedy. Unfortunately this was an opportunity wasted. The good actors were given terrible writing and direction, and the poor actors (notably DeVine) were allowed to express their worst or most annoying abilities.
The primary plot was good, with some clever twists. Unfortunately, the words put to that plot were at best stilted, at worst juvenile. I swear if my television were not so expensive I would have thrown something heavy at Adam DeVine for his continuous, infantile, wailing and squealing. Yeah, we get it, he's a mealy-mouthed wimp. Like so much of Sandler's recent work, subtle is unknown and the Director insists on beating us over the head with loud, repetitive lines - or in DeVine's case whining.
What a sad, missed opportunity.
Minions (2015)
The Three Stooges meet 60's Music
Minions!!!
Three Stooges meet 60's music. Really simplistic plot (if any) that likely will put off adults. This is not Despicable Me, Wall-E or Incredibles, it is more of a classic cartoon - fun but pointless. Frenetic enough comic action for little ones. Enough rude & crude stuff for older kids. Great soundtrack of 60's music for grandparents (with a really disturbing but funny performance of "Hair".). There are many slow parts that I guess are directed at adults, and I was surprised my theater full of toddlers didn't get bored during those.
None of the families with kids stayed through the credits, missing out on the "cast" party set to The Beatles "Revolution" - loaded with (as the Muppets put it) cheap 3D gimmicks. Unlike Wall-E there was no visual action through the credits roll to keep anyone's attention, which is a shame because the post credit madness was well done fun.
I give it a B-. It's got a beat and you can dance to it.
Jewtopia (2012)
Disturbing, offensive attempt at gross-out humor. Avoid it.
Self deprecating humor can be funny. Poking fun at your ethnicity's stereotypes can make you smile if done with affection and talent. I figured the large cast of well known actors meant this would be a good attempt at such screenplay. I guess I was expecting a Jewish "My big fat Greek wedding". Boy was I wrong.
What a stinker. Poorly written, poorly directed, over the top writing and, with a few exceptions, over the top acting make this little more than a string of Jewish (and Christian) family caricatures. It feels amateurish. To be clear, when I call this offensive, I'm not referring to the insulting ethnic stereotypes and jokes. I mean the movie was an offensive to me as the audience. Half way through all I could think of was "how did they get this many people to lend their reputations to this poorly written, over-acted, poorly cast, sophomoric attempt at humor?" Jack-ass and Bad Grandpa meets It's a mad mad mad mad world - with worse acting.
By the end it felt like I watched a "film" made by a bunch of drunk/stoned twenty- somethings with a camera who think themselves insanely funny and talented the louder and more obnoxious they act. Too bad I watched it sober.
Gravity (2013)
Gravity is Powerful Visually and Psychologically
Having now seen the movie, I can say my assumptions were correct: the marketing of the movie was very poor. In fact, I got much better insight to what to expect from Jon Stewart's gushing interview with Sandra Bullock on the Daily Show. (He wasn't exaggerating.)
Gravity is visually stunning and exciting. Think "2001" but at the pace of, say, "Die Hard" or "Aliens". But this is not a sci-fi movie. This is a character study and a psychological mind trip. Two hours with only two characters on screen. You get to know them, intimately. The masterwork aspect of the movie is that you don't get bored.
Gravity is also not an art-for-art's sake movie. While it is built from the ground up to fully exploit 3-D, the strength of the movie is the characters, and the fact that you are sucked in and deeply invested in them - particularly Bullock. I know I tend to overuse analogies, so I apologize. But the idea that came to my mind to set my fellow movie go-er's expectations was: imagine Vince Gilligan directing Castaway, in space, with the pacing of "Need for Speed". The intensity and tension of a Breaking Bad episode applied to a different genre.
Go see it. In 3-D. See if you don't agree.
(Leave the little ones home, though. There is a little too much scary, intense bad stuff happening.)
Real Steel (2011)
Guilty Pleasure of the Month
Real Steel.
It doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is. Purely a guilty pleasure. I felt like decades ago when I was a kid watching undemanding celluloid. No deep thought required. No complex plots to follow. No intricate twists. Just a fun, feel good movie.
More human relationship stuff than Transformers. A lot more cool special effects than The Champ. The robots were hyper realistic and surprisingly varied. Very creative. The soundtrack, which in any other situation I would have found distracting, worked so well with the on screen action that a found myself tapping/stomping my feet through most fight scenes.
I really like Hugh Jackman in this. Very real. Very human. And very funny (at times). Obviously folks will talk about the kid with the big blue eyes. And he did a fantastic job at playing an 11 year old with a 40 year old's heart. Witty, tough, yet still vulnerable. I think a good role model for kids who see this. But Jackman belies the "never work with children or animals" saw. He's strong and affecting and definitely holds his own against the young heart throb.
Certainly the robot boxing is too violent and painful for really young children. But the surprisingly low quantity of foul language and total lack of sex makes this a rare action movie these days that I think can be seen by preteens.
It's certainly not going to be anyone's movie of the year. But sometimes it's okay to just be entertained.
A simple joy. I smiled the whole way through.
Shining Through (1992)
A Classic, with Modern Production Quality
Thriller, War Movie, Mystery, Romance -- all in a high quality production. One of my favorites. I've never understood the lack of more widespread interest in Shining Through. Thank goodness it's finally out on DVD in the U.S.
It has stoic performances by Douglas and Griffith, which is not out of place for the setting and time period, and as a stylistic approach works very well in this sometimes melancholy story about how complex life can be, and how difficult it is for everything to work out in the end. I really enjoyed the fact that almost no one in this movie was black or white -- everyone has shades of gray. Absolutes seldom apply.
The tag-line in the trailer was very appropriate: they used to make movies this memorable, they used to make movies this powerful, they used to make movies this romantic -- they still do.